


The Wolves are Gonna Eat You Up

by grubbies



Series: This is a Love Story [8]
Category: Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Character Study, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Bonding, Fix-It, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Sexual Content, Other, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 20:54:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17856797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grubbies/pseuds/grubbies
Summary: We should get away for a little while. Time for just our familyHe thinks, a little offhand, muddled, a fleeting image, but Eddie clings to it, staring out the window and taking in the green-grass breeze.“Hey, what’d we think about taking a camping trip?”





	The Wolves are Gonna Eat You Up

**Author's Note:**

> Don't you guys love how there isn't a Venom run coming out right now? And how there are no comics being released tomorrow? me too! love that. 
> 
> And don't you love when kids aren't abused and people who love each-other aren't ripped apart? yeah! uh-huh. 
> 
>  
> 
>  _Anywaaayy_ here's Brock-Symbiote family fluff, aka the only valid thing!  
> (you should probably, but don't have to, read [this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16818052), which sets the scene for this! as does the rest of the series but...) <3 <3

* * *

 

 

 

Music swirls through them, swallows them up. Eddie bubbles with laughter as Venom swings him around and dips him back. Blackness seethes down his legs, shared feet moving clumsily, carelessly, joyfully to the rhythm.

“I’ve got yoouuu ~ under my skin” he croons along with the tiny tinny speakers, big dopey grin on his face.

 ** _A little cliche, don’t you think darling?_** He teases, one hand in his, arm outstretched, and the other on the small of his back. The symbiote kisses his temple and dances him closer.

“ ‘s your fault!” _You’ve made me all sappy. Ruined me._

**_Mhhhm, ruined you. Yes._ **

“Hey!”

Joy roils through them, low like thunder and bright like a sunrise.

Eddie leans his head on His half-formed shoulder and Venom tugs him against Himself, solid as he can manage with the softness of their feelings. They waltz around the room, tripping on the edge of the moth-eaten rug and the corner of the couch. A feedback loop of emotion and tenderness and devotion. A fluttering heartbeat shared between them.

A delicate kiss, a blush creeping across his cheeks, a -

 

“Eww! Gross you guys” Dylan snorts and makes an exaggerated retching motion as he comes in the door to find them dancing. Eddie grins and waves at him dismissively.

The Symbiote sticks His tongue out and makes a face over the man’s shoulder. **“Love isn’t gross”** He grumbles, nuzzling Eddie’s cheek in an exaggerated show of affection.

Sleeper oozes out of Dylan’s backpack (their new favorite hiding spot) until they’re standing next to the kid, gone from one foot tall to six in a matter of seconds. _“Is when it’s our parents”_ they hiss.

Eddie just makes a show of rolling his eyes as the two teens change the music to a song he doesn’t recognise and begin raiding the fridge for snacks.

**_These children are terrible, Eddie._ **

_Just the absolute worst._

 

* * *

 

 

It’s a warm March after a harsh winter (“Harsh for San Fran, sure - gotta take you two to the east coast, so you can see what a real snow storm looks like” Eddie had fussed) and the house is itching with spring fever.

Dylan groans as he dumps his school supplies out of his bag.

Squinting white eyes blink out of Eddie’s jet-black sweater, big mouth opening up from his stomach. (It tickles.) **“Something wrong?”**

The kid kicks a textbook and shrugs. “School’s just shitty”

 _“Stupid”_ the little symbiote agrees, standing next to him - a melty, slimy silhouette and looking goofy as can be as they tear open a bag of chocolate covered pretzels.

“Oh, like you two don’t play hookey every other day?” Eddie chuckles as he struggles to open a stuck window. “I mean, when w-” he stumbles forward as the glass pane abruptly lifts under momentarily alien strength. “Thanks, love” and he plants a kiss to the shifting darkness still viscous on his forearm before turning back to the pair. “When was the last time you two even stayed in school a whole day?” and it’s not like he was actually _mad_ , but what kind of guardians would they be if they didn’t at least _pretend_ to argue about attendance? Or, well, if he didn’t pretend, that is. Venom _conveniently_ sides with Freire on the role and nature of schooling.

 _“Know better than those hack teachers, anyway”_ Sleeper justifies, but their voice is uncharacteristically soft and they nudge Dylan with something like an elbow.

The kid’s face is sour, a forced half-smile and downturned eyes.  “Yeah” he agrees hollowly.

“We’re just joking” Eddie murmurs, suddenly aware of the energy of the room. “You guys ok?”

“ ‘s nothing” Dylan mumbles. Eddie’s about to push the issue, to remind him that his problems are not, in fact, a burden, that he’s very (personally) aware of how often the kid’s been told to shut up about his problems. But then, with a sigh, he reluctantly continues; “Just some some assholes at school. A bunch of people put up fliers… like, ‘wanted posters’ saying I murdered my parents… it’s… it doesn’t matter…”. He’s obviously trying to look calm and unaffected, staring down at his phone, but he’s got tension in his hands and in his shoulders and and in his voice.

Eddie’s blood rushes.

 _“Should’ve killed those dicks”_ Sleeper hisses, taking Dylan’s hand in theirs.

“Well, we’re glad you didn’t…” Eddie sighs, though… it’s not like he’s not at least sort of in agreement. Or maybe that’s not his thought…   

**_It is._ **

_“Yeah… just poisoned them instead”_

**“Perfect”**

“You did what!?” Eddie sputters, but Dylan’s finally smiling again, so that’s good, at least.

 _“Only enough to get them sick. Don’t worry so much, wouldn’t kill kids…”_ and they roll their eyes like a flicker of fire across a ruby. The two children are picking out a movie on the laptop, so nonchalant. Like they aren’t having a discussion about an alien giving a group of middle schoolers food poisoning. They’re holding hands, probably in order to enable an internal argument about genre or whether it’s reasonable to watch _Mad Max_ yet again.

Tears prickle at the corner of his eyes. Eddie exhales and tries to calm down for the both of them. It’s only Monday. Dylan’s a good kid, and Sleeper’s so curious about humanity; he’s sure the pair’ll end up going to school at least a few more days this week, and th-

**_Worry too much, loser. They have each other, they’ll be ok._ **

_I know, Darling. I just… I wish they wouldn’t have to go through all the shit we did._ Venom tightens all around him, saturated with love, and then Eddie can feel him between each layer of skin. _Protective._ A cocoon of affection and sanctuary between his soft heart and the cruel world, and he glows with a moonlight feeling of tenderness and togetherness. He feels Him smile, a tingle against his neck, and it’s a little infections maybe, because his own lips turn up just a little.

 **_We should get away for a little while. Time for just our family,_ **He thinks, a little offhand, muddled, a fleeting image, but Eddie clings to it, staring out the window and taking in the green-grass breeze.

“Hey, what’d we think about taking a camping trip?”

 

* * *

 

 

So that’s how they find themselves in the periwinkle first light of morning, their run down (creatively acquired) station wagon stuffed with outdoor gear and snacks, on their way to Anne and Dan’s to drop off their two cats.

Dylan grins and tugs the trunk closed with a satisfying _thud_. “Roughing it for a few days is exactly what we need!”

Snuggled into the hood of the kid’s down jacket, just a blob of black and green and teeth, Sleeper teases; _“You better be careful. City kid. Human. Edible”_ They peak out to form an cartoonishly predatory face, fangs in every one of their mouths. _“The wolves are gonna eat you up”_

 

Venom and Eddie had started going when they’d been in New York; they would take a few days, usually after finally publishing a big story or gobbling up a particularly dangerous meal, and go up to the catskills or out to the palisades. Spend time alone together. It was nice, being away from the prying, judging eyes of, well… everyone.

Now they head up the coast. **“We can see the old big red trees”** , the Symbiote oozes over Eddie’s arms to take the wheel as soon as they’re on the highway. **“Earth’s biology is so strange. So unique.”** He kisses down his cheek. **_So beautiful. So perfect._ **

Eddie relaxes into the mass of darkness around him, tired from the early morning and grateful to be a passenger is the car and in his ( _both of their_ ) own body.

In the back seat, Dylan and Sleeper are filling out a book of mad libs (“road trip tradition” Eddie had urged as he added them to their pile of purchases at their favorite bodega before heading out). Sleeper doesn’t really get the game, it seems, because they continue to insist on looking at the final sentences, in order to _‘pick out the right words. So it can make sense. Duh.’_

The pink sunrise glares on the window and then teasing giggles erupt from the seat behind him and then -

And then… and then like a waterfall, Eddie’s awash emotions, overcome, drowning in the softness of their reality. Enormous and very, very small. It’s so… human; it shouldn’t be, maybe, but -  his husband is driving them out to a family vacation, their children are laughing and wrestling teasingly, the air that filters through the window smells like early-spring pollen and sunrise. Tears prickle the corners of his eyes.

**_Eddie…_ **

_Oh, my love,_ he breathes. _Oh Venom._

 

Less than an hour of driving and Sleeper’s already opened the first package of beef jerky.

“So, how far out’a town we going, anyway?” Eddie asks, and the Symbiote wraps more of Himself around him, laces fingers through his. There’s rosiness, idealism, escapism in his blood and in the glow of the coming few days.

“As far as we can” Dylan replies, swatting at his sibling (cousin? nephew? best friend?) in an effort to get some jerky.

 **“Somewhere there’s nobody to annoy us”** He hums. **“No pesky humans”**

“You know _we’re_ human” the kid smiles, motioning to himself and Eddie. Venom grins. His little human family…

 **_Fuck_ ** would the others be disgusted with Him. He’s glad. Sometimes, He wishes they were here to see. Wishes He could show them how wrong they were, wishes -

_“Somewhere out in the wilderness. Wanna eat a deer.”_

Venom rumbles with petty humor at the way Eddie’s shoulders tense up at that. Distantly, He can sense some subconscious dismay, accompanied by a nostalgic memory of a baby dear in a ‘planet earth’ documentary, but it’s crowded out by his determination to be supportive and accepting of their alien kid.

 _“Have to try every animal. At least every big animal”_ they buzz.

**_Our child is curious, sweetheart. It’s not a bad thing._ **

“Oooh! I’ve never eaten deer meat, you gotta share”

Eddie just rolls his eyes. _You know babe, before I met you I was practically a vegetarian…_

The Symbiote kisses his cheek and turns up the ABBA song on the radio. **_Good thing I rescued you from that dismal life._ **

 

* * *

 

 

Around noon they drive down a dirt road and settle on a backwoods campground that seems out of the way and disused enough to be safe for everyone to be as… _gooey_ … as they want. Sleeper’s been getting better and better at their “‘ _human costume’_ as they call it (invisibility and plasticity comes in handy with that, though Eddie likes to think it’s partly his genes) and Venom’s always happy to slip under Eddie’s skin and making a nice soft jacket when they hear people around, but…

( **“But we wanna get away from hiding and judgement”**

“And besides, ‘s a weekday, and still ain’t even spring. Probably no one else poking around”)

Eddie grins as he watches the kids pitch their tent; they got the bigger one (the one they’d borrowed from Dan that he’d borrowed from his sister) - he and Venom don’t need much room, and the kids should get space to sit up all night and tell ghost stories. Camping stuff. He’d expected them to struggle, what with never having done this before, but between Dylan’s perseverance and Sleeper’s affinity for height and many limbs, they manage pretty damn well.

He and his Other finish setting up theirs and relax. The breeze sings liltingly through the budding trees, and the ground is fresh and mossy and smells like new growth, ozone, change. A newt crawls out from under a disturbed log.

“Hey!” Dylan calls. “There’s still a while before dark, you two old men wanna hike up to the peak? I bet there’s a hell of a view!”

 

The kid gets tired about half a mile up the trail, of course, and Sleeper pulls him onto their shoulders.

Eddie grins ear to ear. _Yeah, you’re right, darling. They got each other, they’ll be ok._

 **“Do you want a piggyback ride too?”** He hums, tendrils of darkness growing and coiling playfully around him.

“You’re such an asshole, you know that?” then he feels the Other pour forth down his body, muscles strengthening, and they run up the hill.

 

There _is_ a hell of a view - miles and miles of it. A river stretches out below them, slow and winding like a snake. They’ve climbed quite a bit in elevation, and there’s a few inches of snow lingering here, a gentle frost on the scrub pine.

As far as they can see there’s the green of first leaves and new growth.

The air is filled with the renewal.

They are filled with renewal.

Hope.

 _“It’s beautiful”_ Sleeper sighs. _“Didn’t want to love this planet… to think it was beautiful”_ Dylan reaches for their hand, and for a moment they pull away, but then they meet him halfway. _“But when… when I finally made it off of here, to see the stars… it was cold, and alone”._

Venom pours more of Himself out of Eddie’s skin, forms arms to hold tight as He can around his torso.

_“Hated how weak and scared I was but… I’m ok being weak. We’re ok”_

 

* * *

 

 

As they make their way back to the campsite, the sun is setting and a fog rolls over them.

“We should make s’mores!” Dylan’s already rummaging through the trunk of the car looking for the sack of food.

 _“Some more?”_ they look confused.

**“Got chocolate, it’s good. You’ll like it”**

Eddie smiles and kisses Him as he sinks into his skin so he can start to build a fire.

When the kindling finally catches, Sleeper shouts and and jumps behind Dylan’s back, suddenly less than three feet tall, shaking. They hiss at the flames.

“You’re _such_ a baby” the kid rolls his eyes, but he broadens his shoulders and hold his arms out, like a (small, ineffective) shield.

And once the fire’s rumbling and the marshmallows are out, he holds a stick for both of them. Much more giving than Eddie ever was at that age. _Or any age._

**_Shut up. You’re too selfless, if anything. Idiot._ **

The campfire flickers with warmth and with a promise of safety and tranquility. The smoke smells earthy and heavy, like a blanket left in the attic too long. Dylan roasts another marshmallow, and sleeper stuffs a full chocolate bar into their left mouth.

 

* * *

 

 

They play cards around the fire late into the night (or, at least hours past sunset - Dylan checks his phone at some point and it’s still only 8:32). Venom flows over Eddie like syrup, glowing with warmth, and the kids snuggle down into their sleeping bags.

Dylan rolls over onto his back and stares up. “The stars are way bright here!”

_“No stupid light pollution from stupid, evil humans”_

“You’ve got a point” Eddie sighs, “We are the worst…” He feels his Other’s growl reverberating through his guts and he shoves Him. _Oh hush, babe. So defensive of your little pet human._

The Symbiote ripples with petty delight at that. **_My pet, yes yes,_ **He preens, and Eddie feels a smug smile against his ribs.

They put away the deck of cards and hand the kids another blanket before settling down themselves. “Can you see Klyntar from here?” Eddie murmurs, laying his head down on something like a chest.  

 **“How the hell would we know?”** He chuckles, and it’s infectious, and then they’re both smiling at their shared stupidity. .

Sleeper sits up a little. “ _You can”_ they whisper into the darkness as the fire begins to die out. _“Only the galaxy, it’s too far too see the star”_

“You got that left over from that big blue asshole’s head?” his voice breaks as he tries to sound aloof or sarcastic but can’t manage to over the swelling heartbreak, a growing snarl in their belly, hot and angry. Venom seeps around him and expands under his skin until their saturated with one another, woven between each sineu and cell.

Sleeper eyes them softly. _“He’s dead, you know”_

“Yeah” Eddie rasps.

 **“Thank you”** the Other breathes, staring up at the stars. **“Thank you”.**

They’re small, and quiet, and then Dylan wriggles his arms free of the blankets and wraps them up in a hug.

 _“It’s ok, you can ask”_ they say, sensing his train of thought.

Dylan pauses for a moment, then sighs. “Why did you… why did you bond with him? I just… what did you get out of it?”

 _“Never wanted a host. Don’t want to share ourself”_ they hiss. Dylan runs his fingers through the dewy grass beside him and the other two listen fondly, melted into one another. _“Was angry, wanted revenge, but also… the point was that he was a monster”,_ they shiver. _“Didn’t have to feel bad using his corpse. Strong skeleton and advanced neurons. Still wasn’t any good at building a body yet, and was… didn’t want to… wanted to be ready to not be… a baby. A child”._

Venom is heavy weighing down, draped over his heart. Eddie feels a prickle of tears on his cheeks.

_“But don’t need him anymore, not his bones and not his brain”._

Eddie feels a foreign brightness of the relief of shedding a skin, a muddled memory of finally being free of those shackles. _Darling. Love._

**“You’re better than him. Never needed him - stronger, smarter. You’re  more than he ever was”**

Sleeper squirms in discomfort, or embarrassment, but Dylan feels a smile transfer from their palm to his.

 

The campfire’s down to glowing coals and everyone’s had as much ramen as they can stomach ( _an astonishing amount_ , Eddie thinks, watching an alien, a teenager, and a teenage alien slurp up noodles). They're yawning, and chilly, and at least Dylan’s legs are sore from being cramped in the car followed by the long day of hiking.

“Bedtime?”

_“Bedtime.”_

 

* * *

 

 

Venom peers out of the mosquito-net window. The other tent (farther from the stream and on the flattest, softest patch of grass, of course) is still glowing softly with lamplight, and He hears the buzzing of voices and joy.

**_Perfect. Happy._ **

He feels Eddie’s lips turn up in a grin. “Me too”.

The Symbiote flows over His Other’s skin, all warmth and safety. The woods seem full of predators, and He wonders how humans ever survived all alone.

“Not alone”, Eddie yawns, drowsily catching just the tail end of Venom’s thoughts.

 **“No, never alone”** He presses a kiss to Eddie’s forehead, another to his temple, more down the edge of his jaw. His sweetheart shivvers with bliss.

The man turns and looks out across their little clearing. He sighs. “Dylan’s really starting to trust again. Sleeper too”. He squeezes His hand.

 **_You’re good for them. We’re good for them. Perfect little family,_ ** and He ripples at the rolling golden joy He feels off Eddie at the thought. **_Our family_ ** He repeats - wordless, just an abstract picture, just a storm of love overwhelming their heart.

“Our family” Eddie whispers up into the night.

The Symbiote forms a torso against His Other’s, wraps big strong arms around him and holds him bruisingly tight. Eddie runs his hands over Him, up and down His back, little circles over the muscles of His arms, and - and He feels too much. It’s impossible to hold it all within their body, all of this. It’s too big, it’s too much. It’s too good, too happy and **_love love love love love -_ **

Venom can’t cry, but He can shake and grasp at His little host, desperate for something to hold onto.

Eddie cups His face and lets his own tears flow for the both of them. “H-hey, hey what’s wrong?” and he leans his forehead against His. “Oh love, what’s up?” his voice is heavy and worn thin with secondary sadness he doesn’t understand.

**_How are we ever going to protect them, Eddie?_ **

He lays a small kiss on the corner of his Symbiote’s mouth. _You always manage to protect me alright._ He strokes His cheek with his knuckles, the gentlest touch imaginable and even after all these years Venom is overwhelmed anew every time at the idea that someone could _cherish_ Him. “You always protect us”

 **“Eddie…”** He nuzzles against his face and He feels…vulnerable. Like all His strength and rage and teeth sharp enough to kill anything and everything on this planet are meaningless and like -   **“We could always just stay here, no one to hurt us”**

Eddie smiles softly. _What would we do? What would we eat?_ And then he laughs, a little raw split-down-the-middle sound. “ _Who_ would we eat?”

Venom curls tighter, a little constricting, and sends a tiny, tentative wave of laughter, but He’s heavy with sadness, a lead blanket on Eddie’s body. **“Your world is awful. My world is awful, oh Eddie”** and He’s not serious but… **_we could my sweet, we could just stay. It’d be easy. Safe, we can protect them here, protect you here, oh Eddie._ **

He can’t help but drink in the image of that future, as idealistic, probably impractical, as it is; just them and their babies ( _alright, alright, our teens_ ) and the redwoods.

Of course, then they both remember _home_ . They’ve all been working to fill in the rotting east wall, and the other day some furniture… fell off the back of a truck. Sleeper apparently loves color theory, and has been repairing (and in some cases, just painting for the first time ever) all the walls. _Our home._

**_Finally built somewhere important to us._ **

And it’s almost like, _almost like we’d be running away. Letting them win._

 **“We love our home”** His smile is pressed against Eddie’s jugular but they’re still shaking, still a windstorm of images - of Sleeper waking up from a nightmare leftover from time with their former host, of Dylan coming home an hour into the school day with red eyes and terror, of all of them hiding their whole lives, of their pasts and of -

“Darling, _darling_ \- I love you, we love them. It’ll be ok, it’ll be ok” and even if he’s terrified, he believes _that._

Limbs knot together **_like no one can untie us,_ **and then they’re kissing again, and then He’s unspooled across Eddie’s chest, listening to the thrum of his heartbeat.

 _You always keep us safe,_ it comes again, dripping with adoration.

Venom bristles as He lets himself saturate with His Other half’s feelings. **_Love you._ ** **“Love you, love you”** He nudges at the crook of Eddie’s neck and he smiles and relaxes and gives Him room to kiss and bite. **_Need you, want you. Love you._ **

Eddie’s tears are back, but now they taste like velvet and caramel and now Venom’s tongue laps them up and slicks down his blushing cheek and lathes at his jaw. _I love you._ He cups His face, _I love you._ “‘C’mere. Need you so much”.

He rumbles, low and possessive, as they press mouth against mouth and skin against skin and want against want.

 

* * *

 

 

An owl hoots. Water splashes, rocks tumble.

Dylan pulls the sleeping bag further over himself.

 _“Ha ha. Scaredy cat”_ Sleeper teases, under three layers of blankets and puddled, liquid, in the hammock strung up in the tent. They swat down at Dylan’s nose and he rolls over.

“Am not” he whines. “Shut up. Trying to sleep”

Above him, they phosphoresce green and give off a slight hum as they settle down into their little nest.  

Man, Sleeper is _weird_.

Like… kinda like toddler. Like a six foot tall toddler who can murder or lobotomize and knows how nuclear fission works. But like… like they get scared at loud noises and nap all the time and the other day he’d come home from the bodega across the street to find them melted into a tiny pile of goo and wrapped up in their parents arms like a little squid.

In a lot of ways, they’re very protective of him. He’s got his own alien bodyguard who threatens to eat his high school bullies and helps him steal candy bars. But then sometimes, Dylan feels like they need him to keep them safe. Sometimes, he’ll look around and realize that they’re the only one of their kind in the whole universe, and basically three years old (in human years, at least) and they… they need someone to look out for them. Sometimes. Other times they eat people’s brains.

Weird.

_Alien._

But -

But -

But it doesn’t matter  they’re the best best friend he could ask for, even if they glow like a nightlight and have too many mouths.

 

* * *

 

 

Eddie stretches out as the sunrise heats across his skin. Tendrils coil taught around him and under his muscles, restless with the new day, and he runs a finger up the length of one.

Eventually, they crawl out of the tent and into the day. The kids are already up, eating handfuls of granola and, from as best they can tell from across the clearing, drawing caricatures of one another. Or, drawing something, at least. Smiling, making goofy faces at one another. Pink light of the sunrise falling on the campsite and a a perriwinkle chill gentle on everything and everyone. The two of them stay still for a moment, hearts heavy and happy.

 **“Morning”** Venom breaks the silence and walks them over to the kids.

The children turn to them and break out in laughter, pointing at them accusingly. “What’s funny?” Eddie yawns, half-hurt.

“See!” Dylan’s head falls against Sleeper’s shoulder - “see! I told you they look like that!” he flips through what turns out to be sketches from an improvised two-person version of pictionary and finds a page filled with less-than flattering doodles of the two of them.

 **“Should have never thought you terrible little pests were being sweet”** Venom mirrors one of the drawings - big cheshire grin and a dozen tentacles waiving erratically.

Eddie holds the page next to his face and does is best to imitate the cartoonish expressions of his illustrated counterpoint. “Ain’t that just the way”.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time the sun is high in the sky, it’s over seventy degrees.

Eddie thinks the water’s still too cold from the winter and that swimming in March is off the table, but everyone else berates him into agreement and now they’re following the stream down to the pond.

Venom’s torso manifests out of his and He’s wrapping His arms around him and gnawing on his shoulder. It tickles. “You two aliens” he motions to Sleeper and to the toothy smile oozing formless over his his skin, “might be fine, but us humans are gonna get hypothermia”. He’s trying to sound huffy, but the air is warm and inviting and he’s as excited as any of them to get in the water, to wash off the chill and depression of the winter.

 **_Never. Would never let any harm come to you,_ **and Eddie’s collarbone is dripping with slobber and covered in deep purple bruises that’ll be gone in minutes.

 

The water does end up being pretty chilly, but Dylan’s not about to subject himself to an afternoon of ‘ha I’m your big brother and I told you so’. Besides, he’s… adjusting. Shivering a little, but adjusting.

Sleeper splashes him, and he does is best to fight back, but they have a dozen advantages - shapeshifting, breathing underwater, and despite what they say, Dylan’s not convinced they even feel the cold of the lake. He bats more water at them.

Eddie’s floating on his back, tendrils of Venom spilled out of his chest and swimming over the surface around him like an oil spill. They’re making faces and murmuring things to one another. Mushy sappy romantic things, probably, and Dylan rolls his eyes.

He’s - he’s glad they’re happy together. His brother deserves to be happy, and he really loves Venom too, and it’s… it’s kinda nice, really, to have… _guardians_ or whatever, who like… do the whole lovey-dovey couple thing. Gross and kinda awkward and a little annoying but nice. His parents were very… traditional, nuclear-family, go-to-church-and-kiss-each-other’s-cheeks types and growing up their marriage had seemed normal and… good… but looking back - it’s clear they hadn’t loved each-other much.

Looking back a lot of things are clearer.

A flourescent, very familiar eel swims beneath him and curls around his ankle and pulls him under the water.

 _“Got you”_ they tease, and Dylan kicks his feet in a frenzy of splashing water and choking laughter and then they’re both rolling with joy and falling beneath the surface again.

 

By mid afternoon, teeth are chattering and even the symbiotes aren’t running as hot as usual, so now everyone’s wrapped up in towels and laying out on the shore, basking in the last hours of sunlight.

Two metal cans float on the surface and wash against a large rock. One’s label says ‘eco-friendly’.

As Eddie tosses them to shore, Dylan turns to Sleeper and says, very solumbly - “we live in a society”, and the little Symbiote ripples with humor and glows a little brighter.

_Do you understand the things they say?_

**_No Eddie… do you?_ **

He shakes his head squeezes the hand manifested out of his.

 

* * *

 

 

They underestimate the speed of the sun setting and the length of the hike and end up not making it back to camp until an hour after dark. The aliens can - well, not quite _see_ in the dark, but they’ve got enhanced senses, Sleeper even more so than Venom, but still, somehow, they end up stumbling around the path and falling into bushes the whole way.

Sleeper’s pretty sure it was mostly on purpose. They… at first they felt, well, not quit confusion, but… concerned, maybe, about the stupid little antics their family members get up to, or maybe concerned about how much they enjoyed it too, but now - now they like to help Dylan prank his classmates or watch dumb human TV with Venom or laugh at Eddie trying to figure out his phone. Now they trip over a tree branch with the others and fall giggling into the pile of limbs in the dirt, even if they’d seen it from well back. It’s - it’s nice. _Happy. Fun._

The group ( _family_ )’s sitting around the fire pit, and their parents making some kind of potato hash over the open flames. There’s this voice in the back of their head saying, _you should be like your dad. Look, see, Venom’s not afraid of the fire, Venom’s not a coward baby._ But the voice is small and quiet and distant, no longer something booming right behind their eyes and no longer painful.

It’s ok, _it’s ok._

The dinner smells amazing, and Eddie leans over and drapes a fleece blanket over their shoulders, as if sensing their thoughts. The voice wants to say to him ‘ _you know symbiote’s don’t need your little human cloth_ ’, but it’s soft, and warm, so instead they nudge his arm with their head and smile. _“Thanks, Eddie”_

 

* * *

 

 

Venom wakes in the middle of the night to the sound of rain beating on the vinyl above them. His Other’s up too, scribbling a draft of a story in his notebook by lamplight. The Symbiote feels him smile as he realizes He’s awake.

“Hey darling” Eddie hums, rolling over onto his side as He curls around him.

 **“Can’t sleep?”** Venom twirls little tendrils through his hair and runs one up and down the back of his neck.

 _Woke up with some good ideas, finally._ Venom watches his thoughts and reads over the messy notes - the piece about “innovative” “progressive” San Francisco tech startups and liberal complacency in environmental racism. Eddie’s been working on this one for a while, but there’s been less time for… _investigating_ , and writer’s block has been -

“Fresh air’s really helping with that, though” he kisses the Symbiote’s cheek.

 **_Don’t use his name,_ ** He diverts Eddie’s hand to cross off the bit about Luis, **_Will be more suspicious when he goes missing._ **

The man laughs softly and raises an eyebrow. “Oh he’s gonna go missing, huh?”

**“Yes, Eddie. A very bad man, needs to be eaten”**

“Whatever you say, starlight”

Venom grins big and bites his skin playfully. He seeps over His Other’s hand as he scribbles, lacing fingers between his. Little tendrils of darkness follow the pencil marks on the paper. **_You’re so pretty when you write._ ** He nuzzles at the corner of his face. **_You’re so pretty always._ **

 

* * *

 

 

In the morning, Eddie’s pulled out of sleep by - well, at first it sounds like a cheerful conversation, and then now it’s more like an argument, playful shouting and some name-calling and he can feel his Other’s chuckling rolling down his spine.

He screws his eyes shut and yawns and lays against the enormous, goopy shoulder (or shoulder-enough) that Venom’s formed for him lean on.

“You’re _so_ wrong. Arya’s a throwback to the beginning, it’s like… poetic and junk!” Dylan insists, and he feels something thrown at them -

 **_A marshmallow. Your little human is attacking us with them._ ** Eddie buries his head in Venom’s form and avoids waking for a few minutes longer. **“Unrealistic. She cannot defeat the ice zombies, they’re too hungry”**

Eventually, after few minutes of being pelted with marshmallows and woodchips and listening to his husband and brother argue about who will win _Game of Thrones_ (a show Eddie’d staunchly opposed their teenage kids watching, but… _here we are_ ….) he opens his eyes.

“Mornin” he yawns, kissing his Other on the corner of His mouth.

 **“Good morning, sleepyhead”** Venom licks up the side of his face and stuffs his mouth with a cold pop tart. **_Finally joining us?_ **

Eddie looks around the campsite - “hey uhhh, where’s Sleeper?”

“Hunting deer!”

**“Yes, hunting, dear”**

He shuts his eyes again and sighs. _What is happening?_ His Symbiote feeds him another bite.

Soon, though, Sleeper comes back with the edible leftovers of a buck (they’ve ingested the rest), and the group spends the morning making some kind of stew.

Eddie hates to admit it, but it tastes pretty delicious (Venom an amazing cook as always), once he’s suppressed the memories of _Bambi_ flitting through his head. Or, once someone’s suppressed them, at least.

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the day is idled playing some makeshift version of baseball and various card games they half-know the rules to and climbing trees (Dylan was sure he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the rest, but it turns out Eddie’s fear of highs puts he and Venom squarely in last place climbing-wise).

_You’re right it’s a nice view, darling, but let’s get down now, yeah?_

**“Your brother is a whiny loser”** Venom announces to Dylan from across the ( _horrible, terrifying_ ) void of air between them. Eddie is encased in Him, shaking and helpless, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the adrenaline.

 

So now they’re down on the ground ( _where people belong!_ ), laying in the grass, still wet from the rainy night, and trying to fill in the gaps between them to the rules of rummy.

“I’m pretty sure you have to make pairs, and the people with cards left in their hands at the end loses” Dylan clumsily shuffles the deck and pretends to rack his brain (Venom’s pretty sure he’s making this up as he goes along).

“I think they need to be like… threes? Like three of a kind, not pairs” Eddie says a little sheepishly. “I… I don’t really know, but I remember it being fun…” and he takes the cards from his brother and continues shuffling, more successfully, where he left off.

_“Only threes? Or can you make fours or fives of sixes?”_

“Ummm… well I think you can like… count up as far as the numbers keep goin’, but there’s only four suits…” and he feels his clothes momentarily transform into a visual three-piece pun before returning to comfortable black shapelessness.

Even with some bullshitted rules, they’re enjoying themselves.

“Did da- did Carl used to make you play family game night back home?” Dylan asks, mind wandering as they improvise their way through the second round. “It was so awkward… trying to be like… _wholesome_ or whatever”. His face is all sorrow and scarred feelings, and the Symbiote rubs his back soothingly.

“Nah we didn’t really uhh… you know, he - he mostly just ignored me…” Eddie manages a small smile when he catches the kid’s eye.

Dylan nods, and snuggles closer to Sleeper (and then ruins the sweet moment a little by taking a peak at their cards).

Venom clutches His husband’s hand and runs something like a thumb over his wrist. **“He’s gone. Can’t hurt you anymore”** He murmurs to both of them.

 _“You don’t have to worry”_ Sleeper’s voice is soft and draws everyone’s attention. _“You aren’t like him. You aren’t the worlds you come from”_ their gaze flits back and forth between the two of them, and occasionally to Dylan. And then they place down two jacks and a queen.

Eddie laughs smiles, bittersweet tears drying on his cheeks “Buddy, I don’t think those cards go together”, his heart is melting and swollen with tenderness and his Other builds Himself up and cuddles him close.

The little symbiote sort of cocks their head. “ _Sorry, hard to tell the human face drawings apart. Numbers are much easier”._

**“The little kings are stupid anyway. What is he ruling over?”**

“Card fascist” Dylan laughs.

 _“Dumb human authority”_ Sleeper agrees, big smile returning to their face.

Eddie can’t help the goofy joy he feels - _raising two teenage anarchists._ He absently strokes Venom’s cheek and picks up a card. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Sleeper very tentatively poke at the embers in the pit with a stick. _Gonna grow up to be real firestarters,_ his thoughts filled with pride.

**_Rebels, like their dad._ **

_Like both their dads, love._ The term comes easy in their heads, where emotions and images and ideas define things more than language. But spoken, the word ‘father’ is so… _heavy._

The kids are sharing a sleeping bag over their shoulders now, and pouring  (too many) hot cocoa packets into the cup on the dwindling fire, and Eddie finally feels the chill in the air. He thinks back to the weather report he’d half-read before they left. It’s practically the weekend now and - “hey, it uhh - it feels like there’s a cold spell setting in, you guys wanna head home tonight?”

Sleeper’s face sours a little, and Venom feels… protective. _“Guess it will be the weekend soon… humans might be coming…”_

Dylan glances at them. “Why don’t we leave in the morning? Even if it’s cold… it’s not like we can freeze” he grins and punches Sleeper playfully on the side -  “We’re the invincible Brocks!”

 **“Yes, we can do whatever we want”** Venom chuckles, a low deep rolling sound. **“Of course we can stay another night”**

 _“Yeah”_ Sleeper’s voice is small and they smile to themself.   _“Invincible. No one can hurt us”._ They put three cards down again, this time an ace and a two and a three. _“F-fuck ‘em all”_

“Hey! language!”

 

Two cars drive by there campsite that night, and no one bothers to hide.

**“We can be a ghost story for them to tell”**

_“San Francisco cryptids”_

 

* * *

 

 

Once the sun has set, it does end up getting pretty cold, but now Eddie’s skin is hot with afterglow and strewn with blackness that draws lazy little circles over him. He twirls a finger around a tendril, like a tiny dance. “Feel like we’re the only people in the world” he breathes, staring up into the darkness. _No light or noise, just our little family._ Just us.

 **_All mine all mine all mine,_ ** Venom’s voice is heavy and dreamy and Eddie let’s himself drown in it. **_All mine all mine._ **A tentacle nudges his legs apart playfully and teases at his navel.

“Aren’t we exhausted?” he murmurs, letting his thighs be spread all the same. _Don’t know if I can go again, love._

 **_We’ll be gentle. Sleepy. I promise._ ** He’s barely formed, just oozing and flooding over His Other. Darkness wraps around his cock, a feather-light touch as it struggles to harden. **_Mine, mine all mine Eddie_ **. Another tendril toys with his nipple and Eddie lets out something between a moan and a yawn.

“Y-yours” he agrees, voice shaky and muted. _All yours, baby._

Venom bristles with pleasure, physical and not, and pretty soon they’re a positive feedback loop of sensation and want and _yoursmineoursusmineyoursyoursmine_ . He tightens around Eddie’s heart and toys with his cock - they’re so close, bodies spent and Eddie’s still soft and the Symbiote’s falling asleep even as enraptured and exited as He is, but they’re so _close._

**_All mine all mine all mine all mine._ **

 

* * *

 

 

There’s a heavy dew, even a frost in places as the sun rises, pink light flitting through the trees. Eddie watches as the teens take down their tent, still rubbing sleep from their eyes and endearingly clumsy.

Dylan struggles theatrically to shove his sleeping bag back into the sack it came out of. “We should go to that diner we saw on the way here!”

“Yeah?” Eddie takes over sleeping bag stuffing (and then Venom takes over for him, _always showing off_ ).

_“Yeah, want waffles! And hashbrowns”_

**“And we have to scare tourists”,** He makes an exaggeratedly predatory face -  a face which Eddie kisses tenderly on the cheek.

“My big scary husband” he and his Other rub their noses together

 _“Is this allowed?”_ Sleeper snickers and points to them accusingly. _“Is this allowed?”_ and then Dylan joins in, mocking and laughing.

Dew shakes from leaves above them and falls like rain on their heads. Rinsing, cleansing. Purification from the heavens, or some shit.

They’d come so far, all been through so much. The past year was like getting your heart carved up but now… now everything is so _happy_ … they’re together and safe and it’s good and it’s right and _together we’re together and -_

 **_We’ll always be together, Eddie. Don’t worry, always._ ** 

 

It takes longer than it needs to pack everything up, but who are they rushing for?

“This was great. I mean I - I kinda miss home… or _whatever_ but… thanks” Dylan smiles and looks over the empty clearing fondly, “thanks”. Sleeper wraps around his shoulders and torso, like an oversized goopy puffer jacket, and he scratches their head.

The sunlight pouring through the canopy is heavy on their skin, so different from the frigid air of the shade, a perfect likeness to the burgeoning summer and the winter lingering desperately. Venom coils around His Other and nuzzles his cheek. **“Then we will make a tradition out of it. Our family tradition”** He purrs.

“Our family” Eddie breathes softly, eyes falling shut.

The engine revs. The wind smells like stardust and safety.

**_Our family._**

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> as usual, @Donny Cates, meet me out back after work (ง •̀_•́)ง
> 
> Symbiote rights!!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Wednesday Update:  
> hello????  
> HELLO????  
> ehh, kinda saw the dad revel coming and i'm glad i went with the ~confusing family dynamics~ bit and like "father??? eddie dad??" thing in this fic but??????  
> anyway 2018 canon who?  
> <3


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